The trade deficit is driven by U.S. government policies that influence domestic savings and investment, not by the policies of governments overseas. Unfortunately, the executive order seems premised on the mistaken notion that fixing trade-distorting policies of other countries would reduce the U.S. trade deficit.

The performance of Chinese and U.S. shares are rarely compared side-by-side. Together though, they tell the story of the gains that have been available to investors over the past decades, in what are now regarded as the two largest economies—and most capitalised stock markets—in the world.

All the efforts Chicago has made to woo Chinese corporations, along with the resulting economic, cultural, and academic benefits both sides have enjoyed, might be curbed by growing inward-looking policies.

Despite preliminary pessimism, the Trump-Xi Summit showed greater trade pragmatism than initially expected, even though it was overshadowed by a raw display of U.S. military power.

On March 31, U.S. President Donald Trump signed two executive orders to review the reasons why United States has trade deficits with some of its trading partners. The U.S.-China trade deficit is certainly an important topic of the review.

Lawrence J. Lau reviews the highlights of the nation’s annual NPC and CPPCC meetings to check the health of its economy and society, and finds the progress in both areas encouraging, not least the successes in judicial reform.

President Xi has expressed a desire to uphold and develop the world order. President Xi has expressed a desire to uphold and develop the world order. If Xi is up to the challenge and prevents a breakdown in global trade, China will have will have saved more than its own skin.

As President Trump and President Xi prepare to meet in the near future, the current environment makes it unrealistic to expect any breakthroughs in bilateral relations. The sheer complexity of US-China relations, widely differing viewpoints, and the unsettled policy approach by the new U.S. administration make the willingness to meet and talk already an advance.

Perhaps the greatest benefit of the OBOR initiative is the increased understanding and tolerance of people of different backgrounds and the recognition of the need to collaborate peacefully with each other, in order to achieve the win-win objective.

If the US wants to control the global value chain again, it should further open its market and integrate into the global value chain, rather than rely on the “return home” and “America First” policies to pull the chain apart. Only by restructuring the global value chain and by allowing the free movement of production factors can the world create new trade.